Hardik Pandya-led Mumbai Indians (MI) took on KL Rahul-led Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the 48th match of the Indian Premier League 2024 (IPL 2024) on Tuesday, April 30 at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari . Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow.
Mumbai Indians were invited to bat first in the match and they did a poor job. The top order batsmen failed miserably and the MI was reduced to 27/4. Nehal Wadhera (46) and Tim David (35) showed good fight to propel their team to a good total of 144/7 on the board. Defending the total, MI players did a good job and deepened the game but the score was too small to defend and LSG won by 4 wickets.
Speaking after the match, Hardik Pandya said that the loss of the first wickets cost them the game as they could not recover. Hardik Pandya indirectly attacked Rohit Sharma and said:
“I think it’s hard to recover from losing early wickets and that’s what we couldn’t do (recover) today. You still have to see the ball and hit it. We just missed those balls and got out, that’s been the kind of season we’ve had so far. now”.
Hardik Pandya further said that they will learn a lot from the game and try to bounce back strongly. Hardik Pandya also praised Nehal Wadhera and backed him to eventually play for the Indian National Cricket Team.
“I have always believed that you will be on top and you will be on top, you just have to give it your all. There are a lot of things to learn from this game. It has been fantastic. I think he (Wadhera) did the latter. “This year he couldn’t get chances before either ( in the tournament), but he will play a lot in IPL and eventually (represent) India.”
Mumbai Indians current position in IPL 2024 standings
Before their match against the Lucknow Super Giants, Mumbai Indians had won only two of their last five matches and had suffered a defeat in three of them. They were in 9th place in the 2024 Indian Premier League points table with three wins and six losses in nine matches and had 6 points in their bag.
On 11 April, they won by 7 wickets against Royal Challengers Bengaluru before losing to Chennai Super Kings on 14 April by 20 runs. They then won by 9 runs against Punjab Kings on 18 April before facing defeats in consecutive matches against Rajasthan Royals by 9 wickets on 22 April and against Delhi Capitals by 10 runs on 27 April.
Now, after the conclusion of the clash between Lucknow Super Giants and Mumbai Indians, the five-time Indian Premier League champions have remained in the same position.
Mumbai Indians will next be seen in action when they take on Shreyas Iyer-led Kolkata Knight Riders in the 51st match of the Indian Premier League 2024 on May 3 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.